Vortex
by Starnova1122
Summary: It's been two and a half years since Ezra supposidly died after The Despair. But then, a mysterious man begins helping the crew of the Ghost, but remaining anonymous. Can these two events be somehow connected? And what exactly is Project Vortex? (Sequel to Despair, read that one first.)
1. Prequel

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Star Wars Rebels, nor any characters, place names, or content that appears in this story. This is a fanfiction and does not necessarily comply with the actual Star Wars timeline. Rated T for violence and mild alcoholic references.

Warning: this story is a sequel to Despair, so read that one first to get the gist of what's happening.

Sabine sighed, resting her head on the bar. The barkeep came by, holding a jug of some bubbling liquid.

"Another?"

"Same please." Sabine's voice came as a flat sigh, her eyes red and puffy.

"That's your fifth one tonight, if you have any more, I'm gonna have to cut you off."

Sabine nodded, not really listening. She didn't really care. She hadn't cared much about anything for a while now. Drinking was the only way to alleviate her sufferings. The barkeep filled her glass once again, and then stuck a tab on the side of the glass, before walking away. She took a long drink, and then glanced over at her helmet. As she did, she became aware of company.

Hera sat down beside her, and peered at the tab, before glancing over at Sabine, and sighing.

"Has it really been this long since that day?"

"Yes."

It had been two and a half years since Ezra had supposedly been killed. The memory still brought tears to Sabines eyes, even nearly three years later. She saw it in her nightmares, the huge imperial attack- how she herself had thrown the smoke bomb that threw Ezra off the ramp- how the imperials had advanced on them, and how they had left Ezra…

Right in the middle of the imperials. It still haunted her. She wished she could just wake up one day and see that it was all a dream, that he was still alive…

Sabine sighed. She knew that it wasn't possible. He was dead. It had happened right after the Despair, right before she was to confess how she felt about him.

She had loved Ezra with all her heart, and now wouldn't even get a chance to tell him how she felt.

"Sabine, I know how much he meant to you, but you have to move on."

"I can't, Hera, I just can't. Force knows I've tried."

Sabine had not coped with Ezra's absence well. She had sought out all the members of the squad that was there, Delta Squad, killed them one by one. Then she had resigned to drowning in cantinas and trying to forget him. She had painted his lightsaber on the side of her helmet, and underneath, the words _untala no leam kelantar_ Ezra, mando for rest in peace Ezra.

"Sabine, please, pull yourself together."

"Hera, I…"

"You need to. We've got a mission."

Sabine twitched, and raised her head off the table. They hadn't taken an op since The Despair, almost three years previously.

"Why now?... Oh, forget it. I don't care."

Hera sighed. She hadn't wanted to say it, but she had to.

"Well you'd better, because here's the mission.

We tracked down the leader of Delta Squad."


	2. Plans and revenge

Chapter one:

Sabines eyes flickered from Kanan, who was explaining the mission, and the hologram of the imperial safehouse. She was listening carefully to Kanans explanation.

"This is imperial safehouse no.57, home of a shipment of recently-imported blasters. If we can destroy the shipment, it will leave the imperial garrison drastically under-resourced. So, here's the plan:

While Sabine and Zeb provide cover, Chopper and I gain access to the turret network using the terminal near the door. Then, with the turrets covering our backs, we infiltrate the safehouse and destroy the cargo."

"And kill Commander Snocom." Sabine added, glaring at the others as if daring them to argue. The crew suddenly began to look awkward, and became very interested with the floor. Except Kanan, who was shooting Hera a 'you just had to tell her didn't you' look.

As always, the preparation for a mission was taken very seriously by the crew, and became a sort of tradition in the minds of the Spectres. Checking gear, donning armour, testing weapons, things got so in-depth that for the first time in years Sabine stopped thinking about Ezra, and didn't even notice when Hera entered the room. Her face was grim, and she was wearing her 'I want to talk to you' face, one which the crew had learnt not to ignore. Sabine sat down on the bed, and listened to Hera.

"Sabine, I saw that look you were giving us back in the planning room. Now, I know how much Ezra meant to you, and I can understand how you must feel about Snocom."

"Hera, I know what you're going to say, and I don't want to hear it." Sabine snapped. She had become very bad-tempered lately, and woe betide anyone who crossed her.

"Sabine, listen to me. This is important." Although Hera was a kind and caring woman, she had a very no-nonsense way of talking, especially on something like this.

"What you have to understand is that… *sigh* well, Ezra's dead. He's dead and he's not coming back. And revenge isn't going to help. Rebellion, that will help. We, are helping the victims of the empire by rebelling. But revenge. Rebellion is sweet. Revenge is like acid. It corrodes and burns everything it touches. Don't let it corrode you."

Sabine stood up suddenly, and crossed to the door.

"Commander Snocom killed Ezra and he deserves to die for what he's done. And he will.

For Ezra."

With that, Sabine left the room, leaving Hera alone on the bed, heartbroken at what had happened to her family.

Zeb sat on the roof, looking out over the compound. Just because Ezra was gone, he was stuck with stupid 'surveillance duty'. Zeb muttered the last two words to himself, in the same tone that someone says 'dog mess'. He sighed, as he watched the two stormtroopers on guard turned, and meet a third, who joined them in the watch. He sighed, and sent two flashes of his light to an adjacent roof, and to his delight, was replied with one long burst, the signal for, 'move in.'

Sabine sat on the rooftop, and, as planned, sent Zeb to move in while she readied the signal flare they had opted to use for a distraction. Sabine, of cause, voted to blowing something up, but for once was outvoted, on the grounds that it would probably alert pretty much every buckethead on Lothal. She hadn't taken it very well, and was on a much shorter temper than usual. In fact, Hera probably couldn't have asked for a worse time to talk to her, but she had to understand. As a Mandalorian who lost her parents at a young age, Sabine had become something of a controlled vigilante, and while Hera wouldn't trade her personality for all the starships on the Galaxy, Sabine had to learn. Hera had herself witnessed what people would do for revenge, and what happened when they dwelled on it for too long. Hera came up to talk to Sabine.

"Sabine. I understand what you're going through right now. We all loved him very much, and we all feel the pain over losing one of our family. But, look at Kanan. His entire order was destroyed by the empire, but what do you see him doing? Locking himself in his room and refusing to talk to anyone? Swearing revenge on the stormtroopers? Sabine we all understand how-"

"NO!"

Hera was taken aback by Sabines response.

"YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND! YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE FOR ME! YOU'VE NEVER LOST ANYONE YOU LOVED, NEVER! NONE OF YOU UNDERSTAND! I loved him Hera, I loved him. AND WHERE DID THAT GET US?! EZRA MAY BE DEAD, BUT I WILL FINISH THIS! You'll never understand Hera, none of you will, but Snocom killed Ezra and he will die for it. HE WILL DIE!"

And, with that outburst, Sabine lept off the roof, to began the assault on the base, and for the second time that night, leaving Hera standing by herself, feeling lonely and heartbroken.


	3. The beginning

Sabine ducked behind cover, and opened fire with her two Westar-35 blaster pistols, dropping two stormtroopers before the third even realised where the shots were coming from, and before he could muster the slightest bit of resistance, Zeb sent two shots his way, and the stormtrooper fell. The guards immediately returned fire, and Sabine tossed both a thermal detonator and an adhesive grenade at the group, and within seconds, the road was clear. As the reinforcements ran in from behind, Sabine vaulted over the crate she had used as cover, and retreated back towards the door, as, with a loud screech, the automated turrets behind her roared to life, forcing the troopers to dive for cover, and Sabine, Zeb, and Kanan entered the building, leaving Chopper to cover the exit with the turrets.

Commander Snocom was having a rough day. For a start, there had been a mishap about the radiation count of the generator, and he had had to wear a radiation suit for the best part of a day. Then, the engineer had gone missing and there was no one to take his place, which meant no fresh water for anyone when the refresher broke, which it did almost every day. So when a crazed Lasat, and cowboy Jedi, and a revenge-hungry Mandalorian broke into the base, he had had enough.

"Positions! You two, over by the door!" He yelled at his men, and the two melee troopers he pointed at ran to the door, standing just in the doorway, where they could stop anyone coming through it. The real assault, however, came from somewhere very different.

With a huge _CRASH_ , Zeb dropped from the vent, and stood, in the middle of a large group of dumbfounded troopers, for a good second.

"Remember me?"

At that moment, two more of the rebels knocked the door clean off the repulsors.

Kanan lept in first, blocking a clumsy strike from a melee trooper, and delivering a more precise one of his own that disarmed the trooper, clearing the way as Sabine rushed the room, dropping three out of the four stormtroopers in the room, as Kanan killed the last one with a precise strike to the chest. Sabine took in the room for a fraction of a second, then let out a bellow of rage and charged the commander. Kanan went to follow her, but got swept up in the conflict as the reinforcements charged into the room, and ran to help Zeb instead. As he disarmed two troopers with a sweeping figure-eight movement, a loud voice broke the silence.

"STOP."

Kanan slowly stopped moving, and turned to face Snocom. He was holding Sabine in a headlock, and held a blaster so hard up against her head he was practically shoving it in her ear.

"Drop your weapons," spat the Commander, and when nobody moved,

"NOW! OR THIS GIRLS BRAINS GO ALL OVER THE WALLS!"

Kanan dropped his lightsaber, and held his hands on his head in a sign of surrender. Zeb, however, was still fighting, when a stun blast from Snocom's blaster sent him keeling over onto the floor. Two stormtroopers grabbed Kanan from behind, while a third studied his lightsaber.

"Sir… This isn't any type of weapon I've ever seen. I think it's… A lightsaber."

"Interesting," murmured Snocom, still holding Sabine at gunpoint. "Boys, I think we got ourselves a Jedi!"

He got right up in Kanans face, got so close Kanan could count the hairs in his moustache.

"You know what happens to Jedi, don't ya?"

But the minute distraction was all Sabine needed. When she was thrusted forward like a human shield, she took her chance, and brought the back of her leg up, right into the spot where it hurts a man the most.

Snocom gasped, as pain swelled through his body. Relaxing his grip on Sabine for a fraction of a second, he fought not to black out from the pain. This, however, was a mistake, as Sabine was on him immediately, grabbing his neck as she drove him backward into the computer console, and then chucked him onto the floor, before leaping into him, and began to pummel every inch of him she could reach.

All reason fled her mind, all rational thought, and she thought of only one thing.

She was determined to hurt Snocom as much as possible, for the pain that he had caused her.

Kanan watched, horrified, as the spectacle unfolded. The binders the stormtroopers had on him were strong, and he couldn't break out of them. He could only stand in horror, watching the demolitions expert as she whipped herself into a frenzy. Finally, she stood up. But Sabine wasn't done yet, as, pointing one of her blasters at Snocom's head, gritted her teeth, and said,

"This is for Ezra."

As the flash of red light brightened the room, and Snocom gasped in horror, and slumped to the floor, about a kilometre away, a man in a militia uniform spoke.

"You called me, sir?"

"Yes," answered a voice. The figure was concealed behind a cloak, and his voice had been electronically masked, which resulted in his voice sounding like Darth Vader, minus the wheezing and with a more electronic undertone. "Assemble your squadron. Head to imperial safehouse 57, you will know what to do once you get there."

"Yes, chief." The officer bowed, and exited the room. He wasn't exactly sure how his boss found out about these things, but he had learned not to ask. Best just to do what you're told, he thought, and then no one can complain.


	4. Introductions

Hi guys, here's the next chapter in Vortex! Sorry it took so long, I've had my birthday, and there's Christmas coming up, probebly had something to do with it. But i finally got to write this chapter. Enjoy.

Sabine and Kanan were in trouble.

The two were struggling, trying to break free of the binders that held them tight. Although Snocom was dead, the stormtroopers in the room had overwhelmed the pair, and they now sat, tied back to back, next to the unconscious body of the Lasat. The prison room they sat in lay just beside the main room, and the two could hear every word the stormtroopers in that room were saying. They were talking about what to do with the pair, and, after a very heated discussion, and, by the sounds of it, a few fights, they had come to the conclusion where they would return the rebels to the empire and request a new commander.

The rebels themselves were beginning to lose hope, when a series of new noises changed everything.

It started as a low grinding. A buzzing, like a vibrosaw cutting through steel. Then, a loud _CRASH_ shook the room, and the sound of feet running, followed by the unmistakable sounds of blaster fire, and several muffled thumps. Then, the door opened, revealing a man wearing the weirdest armour either of them had ever seen.

It looked, like militia uniform, but with several changes. The helmet was bigger, and took the shape of a giant fin sticking out of the back of his head. The chest plate was black, and he had wrap-around armour on his arms. The mysterious man strode into the room, and flashed a badge at them.

"Commander Finn Rawthron, Lothal Security Force. Are you hurt?" His face was kind, but grim at the same time, and after a scuffle, the restraining binders clanked to the floor, and the two were free. Without a word to the trooper, they crossed the room and peered nervously out the door, and their eyes nearly popped out of their skulls.

Minutes ago, the scene outside the room was quite different to the one there now. The sight of several other troopers, wearing armour identical to the first, standing in the room, beside stormtroopers, some kneeling with hands on their head, others lying on the floor with smoke rising from their backs. The first trooper, Rawthron, exited the room behind them, and smiled at the sight of Sabine and Kanans face.

"Like it? Our boss gave us a tip-off you'd be here. We came, and saw these stormtroopers beating the stang out of an astromech and saying some very questionable things. So we asked them to stop, but they just swore at us and started ranting about your attack. (Seriously, you guys gave the Bothawas a run for their money.) and suddenly, we knew what to do."

"Thank you for the rescue, soldier, but, I must ask, who is your boss?"

The trooper turned to face Kanan, and answered.

"We call him The Chief, but his name is-" he stopped, and put a hand to the side of his helmet as he received a communication. "Sorry, can't say. Classified."

"CLASSIFIED?!" Sabine exclaimed. "CLASSIFIED, the name of the person that saved our lives?!"

"The boss wished to remain anonymous to you." The trooper answered. "Now, if I may, I must ask you to vacate the building. We need to get started on a coverup. Your ship is waiting outside, and I think your pilot would like to speak with you."

The man gently but firmly ushered the two out of the room, as two of the troopers carried a stretcher out, upon which lay the unconscious Lasat. He got them on their ship, and after wishing them luck on their journey, waved them away.

Sabine sat in the hanger of the ship and stared at Kanan.

"So now what?"

"Now we face another great challenge."

"What's that?"

"Explaining this mess to Hera."


	5. Gone

Weeks passed, and still no clue of the identity of their mysterious saviour. They had learnt, however, that the LSF was indeed real. It was a security force, and a good one at that. It had been started recently by a Lothalian themselves, and was said to be on par with the ISB, despite having less funding and being quite outnumbered by pretty much anyone. What they were surprised to hear, however, was that it was with the ISB. They pondered on this, as those that had saved them apparently didn't have any problem with denting the rank of the bucketheads. But then Sabine found something that would change everything. Something, that would shape the fate of Lothal, and change the lives of every one of the Rebels.

Forever.

It was evening, and the crew of the Ghost had just sat down to dinner. Sabine had a concerned, if not worried look on her face. Hera was the first one to see this, and being the woman that she is, the Twi'lek questioned Sabine on it.

"I may have a lead," Sabine said at last. "On the identity of this, 'Chief'.

Kanan paused, his fork half the way up to his mouth.

"What?"

Sabines worried look was gone, replaced by a look of triumph.

"I met one of his soldiers in the bar today. After a few drinks, he leaked some info to me, before he passed out."

"Woah woah woah woah. Let me get this straight Sabine. You got a Military officer DRUNK?!"

Kanan wasn't one who didn't like things being done right, and this news unsettled him more than a little bit.

"Don't worry, I activated his emergency beacon before leaving. But that's not the point, the point is that he and his men are gonna be part of a convoy later tonight, that's driving through Capital City. I managed to get the coordinates out of him before he passed out."

"Yes Sabine, but what does this have to do with The Chief?"

"Well, he said that The Chief is actually going to be part of this convoy! This is our chance! We could hide on the roofs, and we'll be able to see who it is!"

"I don't know…" Kanan was a precautious man at best, and the idea of spying on a convoy was not one he liked very much. Until he saw the looks of the others.

"Oh all right. But we MUST NOT BE SEEN."

Sabine sat on the rooftop, staring down at the empty streets below her. Her legs were cramped, and slightly sore from sitting in such an uncomfortable position for so long. She was beginning to wonder if maybe the trooper had given her false information, when the steady hum of repulsorlifts reached her ears, and the convoy arrived.

It was some convoy. The first line consisted of four slow moving speeder bikes, upon which sat men in some sort of high tech speeder armour. The second line was two troop transports, the third three squadrons of the militia troops, and the last line, a number of AAT-model tanks. Sabines eyes were drawn, however, to the entity at the very front of the convoy.

A person, clad entirely in a black cloak, with a hood covering his head. As Sabine watched, wondering if he would show his face, he raised his hand, and signalled for the convoy to stop. This puzzled Sabine, even more so as he made another gesture, and the troops walked to the front, and stood, blasters out, in a battle-ready position.

The puzzle soon solved itself. Just as Sabine was reaching for her comlink, blaster fire rang out, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Stormtroopers.

They had appeared out of nowhere, blasters screaming, raining hellfire down on the convoy, as the mysterious cloaked figure lept backwards, the transports slipped past the LSF soldiers, making a barrier between the stormtroopers and he LSF, as both sides continued raining lasers down on each other. Sabine watched, horrified. The LSF were no match for the stormtroopers, as the transports blew up, one by one, and the soldiers fought their best. Her eyes were fixed on The Chief, who had pulled out a blaster pistol and was firing on any stormtroopers he could see. He seemed to have a magic spell, Sabine thought. He never missed a shot.

But the most terrifying of it was yet to come.

"Up there! On the roof! Sniper!"

"I'll get her!"

The stormtrooper ran forward, and fired an RPG at the building Sabine was standing on. She could only watch in horror as it crumbled to the ground, her on it. The pain was unbearable, rubble all around her, watching from half-closed and bloodstained eyes as the stormtroopers advanced on the Lothal Militia, and she heard several cries of:

"Suck laser, peckerfrieks!"

"There's too many!"

"Fall back! Fall baaaack!"

And it was all over. The LSF was gone, the dead were strewn across the ground, and the stormtroopers ran around, checking bodies and contacting supervisors. Then, someone looked over at Sabine.

"Hey look! We got a live one over here!"

"Bring her back to base. We'll deal with her there."

"Yes sir!"

Sabine looked up in time to see the stormtroopers fist flying towards her face.

 **Hey guys! Finally got it done! I know it's a lot longer than the others but I wanted to give you a Christmas present for all the support you've given me. Merry Christmas!**


	6. Interrogation

When Sabine woke up, she was immediately plunged into a world of grinding pains and sickening images. Her first thought was that she was dead. Her second was that she wished she was, as wherever she was, it definitely wasn't pleasant.

An imperial prison cell.

The streaking orange and black lights on the walls and floor were the only light sources, and the room was bathed in a reddish glow. Standing by the door were two stormtroopers, their positions identical, their presence cold and unforgiving. In the centre of the room, there stood an imperial interrogator droid, who was looking at Sabine with its head tilted slightly sideways, looking like a toddler examining his new acquaintance. However, just as she thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, they did.

The interrogator droid stared at her for a good second, then immediately snapped into action. Turning to the stormtroopers guarding the room, he spoke in a flat monotone, which was courtesy of the droids the empire hired.

"Tell Commander Titus the subject is awake."

The stormtrooper gave a curt nod, and exited the room, leaving only his comrade on duty. It turned out, this was no bother, because not only was the Ray Shield holding Sabine completely immobile, in her present state she wouldn't have had the strength to overwhelm a protocol droid, let alone a military-trained stormtrooper and an imperial interrogator. The imperials had not addressed her wounds in any way, just apparently taken her back to the base and stuffed her in a cell. Sabine felt an uncontrollable surge of anger towards the stormtroopers, not to mention fear for her friends. Had they gotten away? Had they been captured too? Or maybe they were…

Sabines mind wandered. She wished she could stop thinking about it, but her thoughts kept coming back to what may have happened to the crew. Had they escaped? Or had they been… Taken care of. Bumped off, just like…

Just like Ezra.

It must have been a galactic standard hour before the stormtrooper returned, but to Sabine it felt like minutes. When he did return, he was accompanied by a figure in imperial uniform. He had a badge on his jacket, and Sabine knew from experience he was a commander. He waved the interrogator out, and stood in the middle of the room, accompanied by an imperial officer holding a datapad.

"Good morning." The commander spoke in a crisp, dry accent. "I am Commander Titus Thorn, captain of the imperial star destroyer _Resonator_. You are a rebel to the empire and a traitor to your own kind. But we are here to fix that."

"Now, you see, you have names. Names of comrades, suppliers, anyone, and we need to know those names. And in return…" the commander gave a chuckle, and gestured to the officer carrying the datapad to come closer. "What is it you desire?"

"Anything," continued the commander, staring at Sabine. "Anything that you want, you can have. Your own planet? Power and recognition among your own kind? Mountains of credits? Anything you want and more. Just give us the names, and all your dreams come true."

Sabine stared in awe. She had never seen an interrogation quite like this. She might be quite tempted had the one thing she wanted anymore been actually possible. But not even the empire could bring people back from the dead.

"Come on, come on, I know there's something you want. There must be something. Someone you hate? We can take care of them for you. Something you want? We can get it for you. Someone you like? We can make them love you. We can even-"

"Ezra Bridger."

The commander's face changed quite instantaneously, and he signalled to his comrade, who frantically began typing on the datapad.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I want Ezra Bridger."

"There, you see? That was painless, wasn't it? Now, just give us some names, and we'll go and see this… er… Ezra Bridger."

"Uh, sir-"

The man with the datapad showed the commander something on it, and the commander's face went from triumphant to frowning in less than a half-second. He frowned at the man, and then passed the datapad back to him, and turned to Sabine.

"Yes, I'm afraid the one thing we CAN'T do is bring people back from the dead sweetie. But anything else you want, anything at all, even-" But whatever else the commander had been about to say was lost as the door hissed open behind him, and with a horrible scream, a terrible sight caught everyone's eye.


	7. Rescue

Sabine stared. She had had some pretty unexpected things happen to her before, but this new arrival made all of them look pitiful.

It was a Mandalorian.

She could tell by his armour, traditional of a male warrior, but with several adjustments. There was a small jetpack on his back, and the whole of his armour was tinted green. This was surprising, as the regulation was the Mandalorian colours of blue and black. She had just come to realise these things, as a scream snapped her from her thoughts, and the Mandalorian threw into the cell, the dead body of a stormtrooper.

Chaos reigned in the cell as stormtroopers and officers alike dove for their blasters.

None of them made it that far.

The Mandalorian stepped down into the cell, over the smoking corpses of imperials, and released the Ray Shield, causing Sabine to crumple up on the ground. The Mandalorian strode over to her, and spoke in the electronically masked voice typical of the armour.

"You Sabine Wren?"

Sabine was, at that moment, to weak to say anything, so she faintly nodded.

"Good. Some big-type person on Lothal got five hundred thousand credits on you, missy, so you're coming with me."

Sabine nodded again. She was cold and weak, not to mention desperately hungry and thirsty. She took one last look at her saviour, then passed out on the spot.

When Sabine awoke, it was in quite a different environment than what it had been before. Before, she had been in an imperial cell, on a star destroyer. Now, she appeared to be on a ship, that was zooming away from said star destroyer, which in turn, now resembled several chunks of durasteel and debris floating in space. She stared, and jumped when a voice in the cockpit snapped her out of her trance.

"Like it? Contract says no witnesses, and this is the easiest way to do it. Must be some contract, no one offers this much on Lothal. What are you hiding, missy?"

The Mandalorian was in the cockpit, and guiding the spacecraft away from the debri field. Sabine stared, and then answered.

"I don't know," Sabine answered truthfully. "I really don't have anything that special, apart from painting and blowing things up."

The Mandalorian chuckled, and typed something new into the Nav computer, and the stars turned to blinding streaks of light, as that all-too familiar feeling of hyperspace took over.

The Mandalorian sat back in his chair, looking pleased with himself.

"Aaaand… We're clear. Another successful bounty hunt. Boy, with this much, I can pay for retirement on its own! Now, about that reward, your obviously pretty special. Five hundred thousand credits isn't something people can just whip outta nowhere. What are you hiding?"

"I really don't know. My friends could never afford that if they sold everything they owned!"

That wasn't, strictly true, as Kanans lightsaber would have fetched enough on its own to pay five times as much, as well as last the whole crew from infants to old age. But the last thing Sabine needed was this guy knowing Kanan was a Jedi. He was the type of person who would collect the reward, then hold Kanan ransom to the empire, and sell the lightsaber, ship, and the rest of the crew. Sabine could see that in him.

She knew.

The moment the ship touched down on Lothal, it was intercepted by two troopers of the LSF. They met the two Mandalorians at the boarding ramp.

"Ah, Fett! You got the girl, good. Now here's the reward, as promised."

The trooper signalled to his comrade, who handed a sealed briefcase to the bounty hunter. It had the LSF seal on it, and as the Mandalorian opened it up, Sabine caught a glimpse of rows upon rows of credits. The bounty hunter snapped it shut, and released his grip on Sabine's arm.

"That's Boba Fett to you boy. Here's your girl, she's useless to me. I'll be going now, only…."

Boba Fett turned to go, and then turned back to the men.

"There's a hundred-credit bounty on every one of you I can bring in. Alive. So…."

The trooper smiled, and nodded to his comrade, who dropped a small leather pouch into Boba's hand. The bounty hunter opened it up, and Sabine saw a gold glint shine on the man's helmet. He closed the pouch again, and nodded at the troopers.

"On second thoughts… I'll be looking the other way now. Get outta here."

Boba Fett left with that. As the ship took off, the troopers turned to Sabine.

"Good to see you back. I don't know when I've ever seen The Chief more panicked. He wanted the best man on the job, and said that if we couldn't get you back, there'd be pieces of all of us in seven different systems."

"Yikes," added the second. "It wasn't pretty. Now let's get you back to your friends, you've got a lot to tell them, I'd bet."

Sabine laughed along with the rest, and as they all piled onto the transport, Sabine reflected on her past.

 _Maybe not all Mandalorians are that bad,_ she thought to herself.


	8. The drop

"Project Vortex," The voice said, and a hologram flashed up on the table. "One of my agents in the field managed to intercept the schematics for this weapon. It's being held in a secret government base in the Vorontogash Badlands. It's the most powerful superweapon the empire has ever created, and probably ever will."

The crew of the Ghost were all grouped around the holotable, listening to Fulcrums voice. The transmission had only recently come in, and was apparently about some new 'secret weapon'.

"Due to imperial secrecy, we can't pinpoint exactly what the weapon is, or how it works. However, we do know that it is extremely dangerous, with the power to destroy an entire planet."

Kanan froze. He had always regarded Fulcrums information as suspicious, and he had been only half listening up to this point. The same appeared to be for Zeb, who was now staring intently at the hologram, his eyes wide and terrified. They all hung on to Fulcrums every word now, desperately waiting for an explanation.

"This will not be easy. The base is entirely covered by a large Ray Shield, powerful enough to survive any orbital bombardment. And before you say anything-" Fulcrum added, for Hera had just opened her mouth, "there are six anti-projectile guns on the surface, so any projectile weapon won't even make it near the ground."

Hera closed her mouth. The room fell silent. Then Hera piped up again.

"So, you said long range scanners on the ground, what about the air?"

"Only Particle Distortion Scanners to detect ships passing over. No scanners to detect overhead problems."

"Soooo… They wouldn't be able to detect a medium-sized object traveling at extreme speeds over them, and it would be able to pass through the shields?"

"Uh, yes. But what are you thinking?"

Hera didn't answer. She was staring at Kanan. He looked between the hologram, and then at Hera. He caught her eye, and then pulled back suddenly.

"No, no way Hera!"

"Kanan, it's-"

"There's no way I'm letting us do this!"

"It's the only-"

"There must be another way! We can't do this! It's way too dangerous!"

Eight hours later, Kanan sat in the cargo bay of the Ghost, accompanied by Sabine and Zeb. Kanan looked slightly fed up, and appeared to be chewing his tongue.

"Refresh my memory, how did I get talked into this?"

Sabine smirked. Despite the dangers of infiltrating the most secure base in the Empire, she was actually quite excited.

"Who knows? You know how Hera works."

Kanan grumbled, and set about checking the straps around his body, when a hologram of Hera appeared in the centre of the bay.

"Ok, guys, we'll be passing over the target in approximately five standard minutes, so let's refresh. Your jetpack are equipped with a one-shot pack, enough to get you safely onto the surface. For secrecy reasons, keep your jetpacks on as little as possible, and don't access the pack before passing through the shield. Your ankle is equipped with a signal flare, which will turn off as you exit the clouds. That's to make sure you don't hit one another. Once you're on the ground, you should have memorised your objectives by now. Have you?"

"Yes Hera." They all said in sync. As well as memorising their own objectives, they had been obliged to remember the others ones as well, in case one person was caught and the others had to fill out their role.

"Good. Two standard minutes."

The comm cut off then, and silence descended on the cargo bay. No one felt the need to talk, they all knew what was about to happen, what they were about to do. They all knew, that they probably were going to die here. Then, the lights went out.

"Lights out. Let's go." Kanan's voice was filled with forced calm, although Sabine knew he was afraid. So was Zeb.

Kanan steadied himself, ready to die.

Red light, standing by

Zeb clenched his fists.

Orange light, standing by

Sabine took a breath, and put on her helmet, as the cargo door opened in front of them, causing everyone to hold onto the ceiling straps.

Green light, go!

Sabine took one last breath, and jumped.

She wasn't afraid.

The mechanical hull of the Ghost whipped past, and all at once, she was falling.

Falling through the clouds, she felt a spark down by her left ankle, knowing the flare was activated. Looking left, she saw, slightly below her, two other red lights, sparkling out from the clouds.

She wasn't afraid. She hadn't been when they were sitting in the bay, not when they were waiting to jump, and not now. Not even now, when she knew she was probably going to die. She wasn't afraid to die. Not since it happened.

Not since Ezra was taken from her.

In her dreams, she even welcomed the prospect of death, the prospect of seeing him again.

Sabine sighed, and inclined her body like a bullet, speeding herself up.


	9. authors note

**Hi everyone!**

 **Happy new year! I made this little intro to give you a little heads-up on what's happening. I'm coming up on the end of the story, and so the chapters will be a bit longer here, and will take a bit longer to write. Thank you to all my dedicated fans who have stuck with me this whole time, and given me the strength to keep writing to the finish.**

 **Thank you.**


	10. Superweapon part one: Infiltration

The clouds whipped past the wily Jedi, as he inclined his body slightly, slowing his descent. To his left, he saw the green burst of light that was Zeb's flare, and to his right, a red one. He steered slightly to the side, avoiding a collision with Sabine, and continued falling. Truth be told, he wasn't sure about this plan. It had been dreamed up in a hurry, and relied much on luck. That, and the imperials underestimation, as they were essentially going in blind. The HUD on his Night Ops Armour told him he should be free of the clouds by now, but they were still there, all around him. Just as he began to puzzle over this, he burst through the clouds, and, once he took a look at the base, realised they had made a big mistake.

It wasn't a base. It was a fortress.

As soon as Sabine exited the clouds, she got a glimpse of the base, and her heart skipped several beats.

The comm was suddenly bursting with chatter, as Sabine and Zeb radioed in with concerns.

"Look at the size of that thing!"

"We can't do this! It's too big!"

"We have to, it's the planet's only hope!"

"We'll never survive down there! Abort, ABORT!"

"Quiet! We're passing through the shield soon. Expect static disorder. Once were in the shield, we won't be able to contact each other. It's to late to abort now! We can do this!"

Sabine had been about to comment on their leaders sanity, but at that moment, she felt a weird feeling, like when you poke your finger inside a bubble. She was inside the shield, and now, the only thing for it was to complete the mission.

It would be what Ezra would have wanted.

Sabine twisted in mid air, and activated her jetpack. Slowly cruising to a halt, she landed on top of the surveillance tower. Detaching herself from the bulky machinery, she slowly slipped down, off the roof, and into the control deck of the tower. Luck ran her way. There was one stormtrooper on guard, and he evidently wasn't one of their best men. He was fast asleep, leaning against his Vibrostaff. His helmet was at his feet, and the mans expression hardly changed as Sabine grabbed his blaster from the console and whacked him over the head with it. He simply grunted, slid off his chair and on to the floor and continued snoring. Sabine crossed to the console, and took control of the spotlight. Looking through her viewpoints, she saw Kanan land just outside the Security Monitoring Center, and Zeb just inside the outer wall. Sabine sighed.

It had begun.

Kanans landing went off without a hitch. He touched down just outside the camera range, and waited. When he saw the camera move slightly to one side, he took his chance, knowing Sabine had completed her first objective. Moving to the window, he slowly took out his Laser Cutter, and watched as it silently cut a perfect hole in the window. Kanan slipped inside, and inched carefully to the two officers who were on duty, watching the camera. Two muffled sounds echoed throughout the room.

*thump*

*thwack*

Kanan lay the two unconscious troopers out in the room, and crossed to the monitoring board. Moving behind it, he pulled out his lightsaber, and promptly sliced through all the wires connecting the cameras, and the screens one by one fizzled out. He then sent the morse code radio signal to Zeb, and moved towards one of the troopers, ready for his next objective.

Deep inside the catacombs of the base, in the centremost room, a stormtrooper nervously approached his quarry, a mysterious, frail-looking woman concealed in a cloak. Her head was covered by a hood, and she spoke with a rasping voice, one that sent shivers down the stormtroopers spine.

"What is it, Commander?"

"We intercepted an unauthorised transmission from inside the base, but we suspect it was just a faulty program."

He switched on his datapad, and a high pitched noise filled the room. A beep, followed by a long silence, and then another beep. The woman smiled.

"Good. It seems our rebel friends have come to stop us."

"Orders, mistress?"

"Spread out your squad, and draw them back here. I want them to see their hope… Go up in… A Vortex. Hahahahaha!"

Zeb was waiting just outside the sight of the snipers, when he got the morse code from Kanan. Smiling, he slipped past the deactivated cameras, and reached the door. After inspecting it, he concluded that it was a triple-reinforced, steel-locked durasteel door, with a code lock.

'Child's play.' Thought Zeb, as he stuck his hands into the little crack between the doors, and began to slowly pry them apart. After a delay, they opened, and he slipped himself into the base inner interior. He slowly crept through the corridors, leaving a trail of stormtroopers with dented helmets in his wake.

Sabine sat in the chair, her heart racing as she tried to catch up to what was happening. There were times when she questioned what she was doing, and now was another of them. Hiding her head in her hands, she tried to find reason. She asked herself, 'what would Ezra say now?' It was a ground, a standard by which all things were judged.

At first, nothing happened, but eventually, the voice came, as it always did.

"You take care of the others, Sabine. That's all I can say. And take care of yourself too."

Sabine opened her eyes.

"Thank you, Ezra." She whispered.

Her patience was rewarded when, with a static fizzle, the cameras one by one went out. She slipped out of her chair, and took the turbolift down below ground level. For safety reasons, the base had been installed with a network of catacombs under the main base, which served as emergency exits and ways of getting around the base. Now, it was time to make full use of those catacombs. She slipped into the shadows of the underground tunnels, and kept creeping along.

The layout was set. All three had infiltrated the base, in their own way. The plan from there was simple: meet up, find the superweapon, and destroy it.

Zeb was sprinting down the corridor, when he ran into a stormtrooper. This one, however, yelled:

"Zeb! There you are, what's wrong?"

Zeb pointed over his shoulder, and the trooper turned on his metallic heels and ran side by side with the Lasat. They saw the grate move ahead of them, and in one fluid movement, Zeb stooped, and plucked a female Mandalorian out of the duct without even stopping. All three of them ran, until the trooper led them down a side corridor, and they narrowly avoided getting fried by the electric wall moving up behind them.

Once they were free, the trooper pulled off his helmet, and Kanan exclaimed,

"Stang, this thing is hot! Sabine, how did you guys stand this suit? I'm boiling!"

"Well, that must be why we rebelled then, huh?" Snapped the Mandalorian. "Bad coolant systems in the suits!"

"Wait, these things have coolant systems? Whe-"

"The knob on the side of your helmet. Honestly Kanan, pull yourself together, have you even noticed where we are?"

"Hmm, let me guess," exclaimed Zeb. "The Festival Of Hearts, perhaps?"

All three of the rebels laughed, and then Kanan became suddenly stern again.

"Come on, this way."

The Superweapon expelled so much power out of it, that it had had to be given its own coolant tanks to keep it stable. This thoroughly annoyed the engineers of this terrifying new weapon, as it had resulted in several more months of work, and considerably more fatalities. As it happened, at the time there were an above average amount of troopers in the room, along with the mysterious assassin the emperor himself had commissioned on the project. To tell you the truth, no one exactly knew what made this woman so special, but they had learnt not to question her authority.

Not after what happened with Alpha Survey Team.

As the troopers pondered this, the door to the room was thrown clean off its repulsors, but this time, it literally flew across the room, out of the doorway and hitting two troopers right off their feet, as three figures ran into the room.

"It's over, imperial scum. We are here to destroy this weapon of yours. Stand aside now, or die."

The woman smiled, and raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Oh dear, what am I to do?" She exclaimed, and then:

"Welcome to Omega Base, home of the infamous Project Vortex. You know what it does. Or rather, you think you do."

As if in a play, at that exact moment the lights behind her flickered on, revealing the terrifying sight before them.

A huge machine stood behind the woman, a ginormous technological terror. Strangely enough though, it looked just like a…

"Mining drill?" Exclaimed Kanan. "This is your ultimate weapon? A glorified drill?"

"Ahh yes, _partly_ Kanan, _partly_ , it is a mining drill. But we have far better uses for it." The woman smiled.

"You see, as we speak, Project Vortex is drilling right down to the planet's core. Once it reaches it, a specialised system inject the core with a highly explosive liquid, common in explosives and charge weapons alike."

"Using our specially tuned equipment, we arm that liquid, and consequently turn the entire planet into a giant, flying, BOMB."

The rebels froze, their faces each a mask of pure horror.

"Yes, once it's armed, we abandon the planet, and after manoeuvring it into position, we press a button and POOF! Whole system gets wiped off the starmaps! Hahahahaha! You were wrong Kanan. This weapon won't destroy a planet. It will destroy a **SYSTEM**!"

At once, the room was filled with thousands of laser bolts, as Kanan, Sabine, and Zeb dived for cover, and felled two stormtroopers each, leaving six in the room. This still outnumbered the rebels two to one, or at least, it did.

Suddenly, a loud scream ran out, and both sides stopped fire as a stormtrooper ran into the room. His gun and helmet were gone, and he looked utterly terrified.

"Sir! We're under attack! We were just out there and now they're everywhere! Someone's bringing all hell down upon us sir! And, he's here, HE'S HERE! IT'S THE- URGGH!"

At once, a bright blue laser bolt sailed through the air, and the stormtrooper flipped into the air and crashed to the floor, coming to an abrupt stop on the wall.

Silence descended on the bay, only broken as, with a yell, another terror rushed the room.


	11. Superweapon part two: help

**previously on Superweapon:**

 **the rebels have infiltrated the base, only to find themselves way over there heads. The superweapon is guarded by a mysterious assasin, and a terrifying truth is revealed, as the weapons deadly secrets are uncovered.**

The LSF.

They stormed the room, laying waste to the stormtroopers, four troopers and… Someone else.

In seconds, it was all over. The stormtroopers were twisting and turning, flailing their arms like marionettes whose strings had been cut. The troopers took up positions in the corners, as the person with them went straight for the rebels.

The fifth person was covered in a black cloak, with a hood covering his face. When he spoke, his voice had been electronically masked, something that both impressed and annoyed Kanan. He crouched, making his face level with Sabine.

"Are you okay?"

His voice send shivers through Sabines spine. She felt as though she should recognise it, but didn't.

"Yeah… Yeah I'm fine. Who… are you?"

The man didn't answer, but sighed slightly, and moved his head.

"I was sorry to hear about Ezra. I am sorry for your loss. But maybe he deserved his fate."

"Don't say that. Ezra was a great man. Did… Did you know him?"

"Yes…" The man sighed. "The good die young. I knew him. He was a good friend. He was like the brother I never had."

"Then who are you?"

The man sighed.

"I am The Chief. That's all I have left for me now."

"No, I mean…"

"I know what you mean. I was someone, once.

"ENOUGH!"

Both people stood up. The woman was still standing in the middle of the room, and was looking enraged, sparks almost flying from her eyes.

 **"ENOUGH! I AM ABOUT TO KILL YOU ALL, AND YOU STAND THERE LIKE THIS IS SOME KIND OF….SOCIAL CHAT?! YOUR MEN CAN'T SAVE YOU NOW, YOU COWARD! WHY DON'T YOU STAND AND FIGHT LIKE THE MAN YOU CLAIM TO BE!"**

The man stood up, and shrugged of his cloak. Underneath, he was wearing a black Lothal jumpsuit, with a mask covering his face.

"I will not claim to be any man." He said, standing in a battle-ready stance. "I lost that chance. But I will fight any who harm them."

His voice was filled with calm warning, and Sabine wouldn't have dared to stand against him now. The woman didn't even flinch, however. She just reached to her belt, and activated two red lightsabers.

"Like them?" She said, smiling with malice, her voice oozing with false politeness. "Asajj Ventress, at your service."

At that moment, Kanans head exploded with pain.

It was crushing him, worse than it had during order 66. The last time he had felt this pain, it had been in the warehouse, where they had found Ezra. He turned to the crew, one of which was looking absolutely dumbfounded, the other terrified. Sabine would have known who Ventress was, as she had once served in the Imperial Academy. He quickly tried to commune to Zeb:

"She's a Nightsister, a Sith Warrior!" He mouthed.

The Chief, on the other hand, hadn't even flinched at the sight that their new quarry was one of the most fearsome entities in the known Galaxy.

He simply reached to his belt, and activated a lightsaber of his own.


	12. Superweapon part three: a hero unmasked

**previously on Superweapon: help sometimes comes in the most unlikely forms. When the LSF arrive to help the rebels, the truth is revealed that The Chief is one of the last remaining Jedi. But who exactly is he? And what will happen when he is pitted against the Clone Wars legend, Asajj Ventress?**

The whole room fell silent. Everyone stood quite still. It was almost as if space itself had stopped, waiting to see what would happen next.

"I do not deserve this weapon anymore." The Chief spoke, shaking his head. "I shame it. But as much as I failed," he continued, pointing the tip of the bright-blue blade at Ventress. "You failed even more, Sith assassin."

Kanan felt a great rush of sadness all of a sudden. As though he was responsible for this man's suffering, even though he knew it was impossible. He was snapped out of his thoughts, when, with a loud scream, Asajj charged the Jedi.

The whole room shook as the two clashed. Ventress aimed a double-saber slash at the Jedi's head, but the man blocked it, responding with a counter-slash that the Sith barely parried. Screams and crashes echoed around the hall as Jedi and Sith fought, desperately trying to gain the upper hand. Their sabers locked and swung in a deadly contest of strength, where it took every ounce of skill to stay in the fight. Kanan watched, horrified. He knew one of them wasn't walking away from this fight, and he wanted nothing more than to join.

But he couldn't.

It seemed as though something was keeping him in place, like his body was utterly unwilling to cooperate. He could only watch as the two clashed, and stray blows destroyed computer consoles, power reactors, and two dumbfounded stormtroopers.

The Jedi parried. He was afraid. Not of death. He had never been afraid of death since Ezra died. He was afraid of the truth. Of what would happen afterwards. What would he say, if the rebels knew his secret? If they knew who he was? Or even if-

His thoughts were interrupted as Ventress locked his lightsaber between hers, and smashed them into the main power console for the superweapon. At once, the power conducts began shutting down, clearing the circuit of pressure and allowing the reactor to flood.

The collapse of the weapon had begun.

Such an immense weapon required every system to run like clockwork, and the slightest mishap was deadly. As it happened, a more-than-slight mishap caused the power conducts to shut down, and the chain reaction the followed would be enough to rival that of the later Death Star. By destroying one console, the entire fortress was about to implode.

But a far more surprising outcome was on its way.

In the resulting shower of sparks, neither of the combatants saw their grave mistake, until the ground shook below their feet.

The mysterious Jedi, realising his mistake, looked down at his feet for a fraction of a second.

The Sith assassin, instantly rallying the moment, swung both lightsabers up into the air, and brought them crashing down, right next to the Jedi's face.

There was a moment of blinding confusion.

A shower of sparks.

The sound of cut metal.

The Jedi stumbled back. Sabine looked at his face.

The mask.

Half of it was completely blown off, and the rest was badly burnt and broken. A small beeping noise was issuing from the mask, and smoke poured from it.

He covered his face for a moment, and then reached under what was left of the mask, and pulled it off.

It hit the ground with a loud _clang_ , and everyone stared at his face.

Even after three years, his form was still instantly recognisable. He had grown a bit taller, not much, and was considerably more muscular. His hair had stayed roughly the same, but was flecked with dirt. But Sabine was drawn to his eyes. The same eyes she had fallen in love with, years ago. The eyes she thought she would never see again.

So many emotions clashed inside Sabine at that moment, she felt as though she was going to hurl. Everything changed, at that moment.

For everyone.

"Ezra Bridger. Lothal's Most Wanted, risen from the grave." Smiled Ventress. "You were a fool to come back here."

Ezra sighed. He had failed.

"Not grave. I never died. They didn't either. But you WILL!"

He jumped. Lightsaber out, he charged the Sith, who was forced into a defensive, getting pushed back and back, towards the pit, that Vortex was drilling. Then, there was a terrible gut-wrenching yell, as Ezra brought his lightsaber back, and stabbed it forward, as it went straight past Ventress's block, and into her shoulder.

The sight was one none would forget. Ezra had brought his lightsaber right through the assassins shoulder. The Sith yelled, and then crumpled up on the floor, shivering from the wound.

Ezra stumbled backwards, and turned to the crew.

"There. You know. I'm sorry, I-"

"Why?"

Sabine stood up, and stared at Ezra.

"How are… You DIED."

Ezra sighed.

"No." He said. "I woke up, surrounded by debris, no you, no imperials, nothing. I thought… I thought you were dead."

Kanan flinched, and Sabine covered her mouth with her hand. Zeb said nothing, as he was too busy being sick into the corner of the room. Ezra fingered his lightsaber, and carried on with his story.

"It tore me apart. Everything I had known, seemingly destroyed. I felt as though I would never feel again."

"I started the LSF. Gathered a few like-minded souls, and created the best police force Lothal has ever seen. I was determined to serve the justice I thought you had never received.

But I couldn't let them see me. I hated everything about myself. I felt ashamed. Like I had failed you. Let you all down. I hid myself from the world, controlled the LSF through an anonymous leader."

"I kept the lightsaber. It saved my life many times. But I was no Jedi. *chuckle* I was just a fool waving a laser sword who had lost everything."

"But then, years later, I saw something that changed everything.

Imperial Safehouse 57 radioed. They were under attack, and needed reinforcements. He sent me surveillance photos, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

You. You were alive. I had to help you.

But I couldn't let you see me. I was worried that, through everything I had done, you wouldn't want to see me again. I had given up on you. I had left you for dead. And, in the Despair, I nearly killed you all! I… I… and now it's too late. I was worried you would think I was… A monster."

Ezra finished his story, and the room fell silent. Only Sabine showed any signs she had even realised he had stopped speaking. She stood, and walked slowly towards him. She stared at him for a minute, and then hugged him. She tried to put a lot of unsaid things into this hug, and maybe he understood, because he patted her back in a sort of awkward way, when a voice made them all jump out of their skin.

Ventress was back on her feet, clutching the wound in her shoulder. Ezra stood up, and whispered out of the corner of his mouth:

"Get behind me."

But Ventress hadn't any interest in fighting. She had lost, and she knew it. She simply stared at the rapidly collapsing machine.

"You rebels won." She said. "But you will lose. We lost the weapon. But you won't leave this base alive."

Her fingers were ablaze with Force Lightning, and she stepped back slightly, towards the pit.

"You will die here. Goodbye, Rebel scum."

And she jumped. Giving no sound, she fell, backwards, into the pit that led straight to the planet's core. Ezra extinguished his lightsaber, and jumped backwards, pushing Sabine out of the way as a cold wind whipped through the room, seemingly coming not from the door but from the pit itself.

The base began to fall apart in earnest now. Ventress had jumped straight into the already-unstable core, and the whole part of the planet was now in danger of collapsing.

"Go go go! We have to get out of here! Come ON!"

An LSF trooper was standing at the door, shepherding everyone out. Sabine ran after Kanan and Zeb, then stopped as she realised Ezra hadn't moved.

The whole place was falling apart, debris were literally falling inside the room itself now, but Ezra simply stood, staring at the machine as it pulled itself apart.

"Ezra?"

"There isn't enough time." Said the boy. "The machines too unstable."

Without another word, he reached out his hands, and grabbed hold of the machine using the Force.

"Hurry! I can stabilise it long enough for you to get out! Go GO!"

"Ezra- No! NO EZRA!"

Sabine tried to run to him, but a strong hand descended on her shoulder and before she knew it, she was being pulled along through the corridors, struggling to get free.

"No no! Let me go, Ezra's still there!"

"It's too dangerous! We have to get out of here before this machine tears us to bits!

"BUT EZRA'S STILL THERE! HE'LL BE KILLED!"

Suddenly, she was being dragged through the courtyard, and everywhere she looked there were stormtroopers fleeing the explosions or flying through the air. None tried to stop the rebels. They were too busy trying to escape the doomed project. And all at once, the all-familiar plains of Lothal were all around Sabine. They all kept running, but had only made it about 15 feet when a deafening explosion knocked them all off their feet. Sabine wrenched herself free, and turned to watch as the entire base went up in one, massive explosion. She might have been quite proud of it, once upon a time, but she didn't now.

Sinking to her knees, she watched as everything went up in flames.

"Ezra… Ezra…" She whispered, tears running thickly down her face.


	13. Found

**Hi everyone!**

 **The Superweapon part has been finished, so the chapter should be about normal length now. Also, the story is almost over, just one or two more chapters, and an epilogue. I shall be writing a sequel to** **this** **sequel, and making them into a trilogy. I would also like to thank all my dedicated followers. Guys, you rock the house. You stuck with me, supported me, and occasionally, gave me constructive criticism. More on the fans coming soon, but for now, this is Starnova1122, signing off on another chapter that was enjoyable to write and fun to post.**

The explosion of Omega Base was such that it lasted for several hours, and when it finally cooled down, left a great deal of rubble and scrap behind. In a few days, that spot would be overwhelmed with junk dealers and other scavengers, but for now, there was only one person there.

She ran across the smoking debris, seemingly searching for something very particular, and quite often stopping to heave over a chunk of durasteel here, a twisted metal panel there, only to abandon it and move on. The armour she wore was covered in burns and scratches from all the searching, and her boots had actually worn off, as she ran barefoot through steaming hot metal. She hadn't even noticed the pain, however. She was struck by an even greater one that tore at her heart. It was like the one she had had when she lost her parents, but worse. Although it had been just after midnight when she had started, the sun was high in the sky at the breaking point. She heaved aside a large chunk of the Shield Generator, and was quickly struck by a sudden sense of utter hopelessness. Curling up into a ball on a plate of durasteel, she began to sob.

However long she lay there Sabine Wren didn't know. Minutes, hours, whatever. She just felt like she wanted to just fall asleep and never have to feel again. But she did know that sometime, she was snapped out of her stupor by a low rumbling, and the plate vibrating. As she stood up, she realised what it was, and scrambled to get away.

Sinking. The plate was **SINKING**.

Sabine scrambled over the wreckage, and stopped with her back to a large chunk of the wall. There, she watched as the plate, and several other bits of debri sunk into the ground. It was then she realised that the ground she was standing on was by no means solid.

Then it hit her.

The base had had a network of CATACOMBS underground, and it seemed that, in the explosion, they had all been incinerated. In several days, this whole site would be a giant sinkhole, possibly going down right to the core of the planet itself.

But the mishap served only to inspire the young Mandalorian, and a fresh sense of determination found its way into her, and she heaved herself to her feet, and carried on. She worked for several more hours, but found nothing. She was about to give up, when she realised something. Looking back at where she had been, she realised that she had been going in circles. No… Not a circle… A spiral. And right in the middle, there was a large chunk of Vortex, still red hot. She felt herself drawn to the chunk, as though her body knew something her brain didn't, and before she knew what she was doing, she was on her hands and knees, trying to lift the huge mess out of the way.

She felt it would have been easier with Zeb helping, but he wasn't there. He wouldn't help, anyway. He would just say it was hopeless, that Ezra must be dead. But even if he was, Sabine would find his body. It deserved a burial after all it had been through.

The chunk was quite heavy, but finally lifted. When it did, Sabine was disappointed. There was nothing there. She turned to go…

And stopped dead at the sight before her eyes.

She saw Ezra's arm. Producing from under a flat piece of the wall, it was covered in blood. Sabine heaved over the wall, and almost passed out with relief.

It was Ezra Bridger.

His jumpsuit was ripped and torn, and his body scratched and burnt. Scars covered most of his face, and his whole figure was covered with blood. She immediately dropped onto her knees, and felt his neck. There was nothing. She continued. It couldn't be- he had to be alive… She couldn't have her heart broken again.

Then she felt it.

Faint, but there. His skin fluttered slightly under her fingers.

He was still alive.

She wasted no more time. Gently picking him up, she ran quickly across the debri field, back towards the Ghost, euphoria in her heart.


	14. Returning

"Hera?"

"I told you, Kanan, he's stable. Condition normal."

"Doesn't look normal to me."

"His blood rates low, and if his heart rate gets any lower, we'll lose him. I'm just testing him for breathing…"

"HERA?"

"Look, I know it's bad, but at least it's not getting any worse. You just need some faith."

"FAITH?! Hera, this is the boy who tried to kill himself Force knows how many times, and has been presumed dead for three years ON PURPOSE!"

"Kanan SHUT UP!"

Kanan recoiled as though he'd been slapped. Sabine had never spoken to him like that.

She'd never spoken to anyone like that.

"Would you rather I LEFT him out there? At least he has a chance now! Would you rather he was dead, huh?! WHAT IF HE WAS DEAD?!"

Sabine collapsed into a chair, looking angry and scared, staring intently at the boy who now laying the medbay before them. Kanan looked from Sabine to Hera, who was giving him a look he didn't like at all.

Ezra was in the medbay for several more days, during which Kanans patience was tested to full.

Hera had confirmed that there was no lung damage, so he was breathing normally. She still refused to leave the medbay, and stayed by his side at all times, keeping him alive and tending to his wounds. Zeb remained remarkably unchanged, although he had become more quiet and withdrawn, and appeared to hold his breath whenever anyone mentioned Ezra, until the subject was changed.

Toughest to put up with was Sabines new attitude. From the little he saw of her now, for she spent most of her time in the medbay or her room, her temper had become the size of a Loth-rat, and the other day, Kanan crossed Zeb in the corridor, who had a black eye. Upon questioned on this new look, he answered:

"Me and Sabine had a frank exchange of ideas."

Days stretched into weeks, and no signs of life came from the young Lothalian. Sabine started spending increased time in the medbay, and Kanan, more time meditating. It was one stormy night, that changed it all. Zeb and Kanan were asleep, and Hera was just finishing up for the night.

After instructing the computers to warn her of any developments, she left to go get some sleep. Sabine was there, and was just about to leave, when movement out of the corner of her eye stopped her.

She stopped. She sat down. Something had caught her eye. There it was again.

Ezra's fingers twitched.

As she watched, his chest began to rise and fall, and his hands curled into fists.

Then, all at once, his electric blue eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright in bed, appeared to almost scream, and instead winced in pain.

"Ezra!"

Sabine jumped off the chair, and gave him a bone-crushing hug. He looked both surprised and embarrassed. Hera, who had returned to see where Sabine was, stared at the two, a sly smile on her face. Sabine hugged Ezra, until a loud crack sounded and Ezra cried out in pain. Sabine let go of him.

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

"Well… I can't move my legs, and if my bones weren't broken before, they are now."

He spoke in a slightly breathless voice, and his face was still pale, but Sabine couldn't help smiling.

Hera bounded into the medbay, and immediately set about getting food and water. Sabine checked his vitals as he ate.

"Oookay, breathing fine, heart rate fine, your vitals are good to go."

"But… I can't…. Move… My legs."

"I suspect you have some nerve damage. It'll heal, just give it time." Hera said. "Now, I wanted to-"

She broke off when she saw the look on Sabine's face. She swallowed, looked at Ezra, and quickly changed her tune.

"I'll... Just go tell the others."

She paused at the door.

"It's great to have you back, Ezra."

Ezra stared at Hera as he left.

"Back?" He muttered.

"Yeah," said Sabine. "That is, if you still want to come back?"

Ezra stared at her for a moment, His face devoid of expression.

"I don't… I just, yeah, I do."

"You do?"

"Sabine, staying away from you guys was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Here is the only place my life ever had any meaning. If I'm still welcome…"

"Welcome? Ezra, Kanan stopped EATING after you went away, Hera never spoke to anyone after you went away… I became an alcoholic!"

"Wait, what?"

"It doesn't matter, Ezra, we missed you!" She took a breath. "I missed you."

"*sigh* I really, wanted to be back here. From the moment I left."

Sabine immediately snapped into action.

"Right, it's settled then. You still remember where you sleep?"

"How could I forget, it's… Oh god, not Zeb again!"

Sabine smiled, quite nervously.

"Not necessarily, I mean, if you wanted, you… Could crash with me."

"I'm sorry?" Asked Ezra, not sure if he'd heard right.

"There's plenty of space in my room, and I could, I dunno, we could get another bed, if you wanted, anyway." Sabine stammered, blushing like mad.

Ezra stared at her for a moment, and then answered:

"Where is Sabine Wren and what have you done with her?"

Both cracked up laughing. It was the first time Sabine had laughed in years. She had almost forgotten how to do it. They laughed for a good five minutes, and then Sabine said, underneath tears of laughter:

"Thanks Ezra."

"For what?" The young thief asked, still chuckling.

"For being here. For coming back to us. To me."

Now it was Ezra's turn to blush furiously. Sabine laughed, and pulled something out of her pocket. She had kept this ever since she had brought it, as though some part of her, something in her, had still believed they would see him again.

Sabine took the item out of her pocket, and handed it to Ezra. It was a little box the colour of his eyes. He opened it up, and held the item up to the light.

It was a silver charm. On the end, there was a lightsaber, but either the person who crafted it was entirely incompetent, or he had only the slightest idea what a lightsaber looked like, as the hilt looked quite strange. But, to Ezra, it looked exactly like his own saber.

"I got it for you, the day you left. It was so long ago, I almost forgot I had it. But… I wanted to give you something, just to say… I love you."

With that, the explosives expert leaned in and kissed him, unaware that Hera had just walked past to check on them. She rolled her eyes, and smirked slightly, before walking away. She knew how to respect privacy.

The two broke apart, and she hugged Ezra again. Ezra hugged her back, ignoring the slight protest in his ribs.

"I love you Sabine."

Sabine smiled, and held him tighter, as though fearing he'd be snatched away even as they embraced.


	15. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

Life returned to normal aboard the Ghost, with a few small adjustments. Ezra was kept in the medbay for a few weeks, and then deemed fit to leave. With Ezra back, everyone became much more their old selves. He had moved in with Sabine, something which sat well with most of the crew, namely Zeb, who was overjoyed that he could have his own room back.

Kanan, however, was not as enthusiastic about Ezra's new relationship, and had been keeping a close eye on the two ever since Ezra left the medbay. As he often said to Hera, (most to her annoyance) 'there was a reason attachment was forbidden among the Jedi Order. But these concerns were minimal to him, and he couldn't say he wasn't glad to have Ezra back.

The last big difference I shall point out is that now, the rebels were backed by the LSF. As Commander Rawthron said, Ezra still had command of them, and that he now owned the biggest security force on Lothal. The LSF in turn was backed by starship manufacturers, weapon makers and to Sabines delight, explosive companies. Ezra made a point of using these contacts for presents for each of the rebels birthdays. An upgrade to his Bowstaff for Zeb, armour plating on the Ghost for Hera, a more powerful blaster for Kanan, and for Sabine, a box packed with all the greats in the field of 'Radical Restructuring', as Rawthron called it.

Months passed, and life returned to normal for the crew of rebels.

Or, at least, as normal as you can get it.

 **The end.**


End file.
